Efficient method for providing game content to a client

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are provided for efficiently providing content to a client in a massively multiplayer game.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates generally to multiplayer computer games, and inparticular, to methods for efficiently providing content to a client ina massively multiplayer game.

BACKGROUND

A massively multiplayer game (“MMP”) is a computer game played by alarge number of users through a communications network, which can be alocal area network (e.g., Ethernet), a medium-area network (e.g., anintranet), or a wide-area network (e.g., the Internet). In addition, thecommunications network can be a wireless network, a cellular network orany other system which facilitates the transmission of data. In MMPs,humans and their avatars within the game (“players”) are free tointeract with other players as well as autonomous “non-playercharacters” which inhabit and are part of the game. Early examples ofMMPs include games such as Ultima Online, EverQuest, and CrossGate.

Most MMPs are fantasy role-playing games (“RPGs”) which take placewithin a mythical or mystical world. Most MMPs appear timeless, in thatfrom the player's perspective they have no beginning and no end. Newplayers can join a game in progress at any time, and do not need to waitfor the start of a new game. In addition, many MMPs do not even definean absolute game endpoint, making the end of a game a logicalimpossibility. Thus, once a game has started, it can continueindefinitely. The players of that MMP are thereby involved in acontinuing storyline akin to life within the real world. MMPs allowplayers to develop their avatars, form personal relationships with otherplayers, and to enjoy social interaction through the reality of thegame.

In order to make MMPs more immersive for their players, MMP creatorsconstantly strive to provide a richer and more complete sensoryinteraction. To that end, MMP creators have developed graphics andmultimedia content that takes advantage of ever-improving consumergraphics and multimedia hardware. However, because many graphics andmultimedia files are often very large relative to other informationalcontent such as text, transmitting these files from a server to a clientmay require significant bandwidth and time. Clients who do not havesufficient hardware, bandwidth or time may not wish to receive suchlarge files unnecessarily.

Accordingly, new methods are needed to improve the efficiency with whichplayers receive content.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In satisfaction of this need, embodiments of the present inventionprovide methods and systems for separating high-quality content in MMPs.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method is provided forefficiently transmitting a content update to a client in an online game.This method comprises hosting data files, identifying high-quality datafiles, creating a high-quality content update, receiving a clientconnection request, determining that high-quality data files are to betransmitted to the client, transmitting data files from the high-qualitycontent update, and transmitting the remaining data files comprised inthe content update.

In some embodiments, the data files are stored on a network storagedevice.

In some embodiments, a data quality function is used to identifyhigh-quality data files. In one version, data files contained in thecontent update are sorted by data quality and a certain fixed percentageof the highest quality data components are separated as high-qualitydata files. In another version, the data quality function is based onthe sizes of the plurality of data files.

In some embodiments, high-quality data files are removed from thecontent update.

In some embodiments, determining that high-quality data files are to besent to the client comprises determining that the received requestincludes a bit value indicating high-quality files should betransferred.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method is providedfor efficiently transmitting a content update from a server to a client.This method comprises the server hosting a content update comprising aplurality of data files, identifying a subset of the plurality of datafiles comprising the content update as high-quality data files, creatinga high-quality content update comprising the identified high-qualitydata files, the client requesting a connection with the server,determining that high-quality data files should be transmitted to theclient, the client receiving data files from the high-quality contentupdate to the client, and the client receiving the remaining data filescomprised in the content update to the client.

In some embodiments, the content update is stored on a network storagedevice.

In some embodiments, a data quality function is used to identifyhigh-quality data files. In one version, data files contained in thecontent update are sorted by data quality and a certain fixed percentageof the highest quality data components are separated as high-qualitydata files. In another version, the data quality function is based onthe sizes of the plurality of data files.

In some embodiments, high-quality data files are removed from thecontent update.

In some embodiments, determining that high-quality data files are to besent to the client comprises determining that the received requestincludes a bit value indicating high-quality files should betransferred.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, an apparatus isprovided for updating content. Specifically, this apparatus comprises anon-volatile memory element storing a content update comprising aplurality of data files, a processor in electrical communication withthe non-volatile memory element identifying a subset of the data filesin the content update as high-quality data files, separating thehigh-quality data files from the content update, and storing in thenon-volatile memory element a high-quality content update comprising theseparated high-quality data files, and a transceiver in electricalcommunication with the non-volatile memory element and the processor,the transceiver receiving a connection request from a remote client on anetwork, wherein the processor determines that high-quality data filesare to be transmitted to the client and the transceiver transmits datafiles from the high-quality content update and the remaining data filescomprising the content update.

In some embodiments, the processor identifies a subset of the pluralityof data files as high-quality data files using a data quality function.

In some embodiments, the processor removes the high-quality data filesfrom the content update.

In some embodiments, the connection request from a remote clientreceived by the transceiver includes a bit value indicating high-qualityfiles should be transferred.

In some embodiments, the non-volatile memory element comprises a networkstorage device.

In some embodiments, the non-volatile memory element is associated witha first computer, the processor is associated with a second computer,the transceiver is associated with a third computer, and the firstcomputer, second computer, and third computer are in electricalconnection with each other over a network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects of this invention will be readily apparent fromthe detailed description below and the appended drawings, which aremeant to illustrate and not to limit the invention, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a distributed computer system in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts a typical scene within the virtual environment of thegame;

FIG. 3 illustrates the separation of high-quality content in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart which illustrates the creation of a high-qualitycontent update package in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow chart which illustrates the transmission of contentupdates from a server to a client in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The methods and systems to efficiently provide content to a client in aMMP will now be described with respect to preferred embodiments;however, the methods and systems of the present invention are notlimited to massively multiplayer games. Moreover, the skilled artisanwill readily appreciate that the methods and systems described hereinare merely exemplary and that variations can be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

The present invention will be more completely understood through thefollowing detailed description, which should be read in conjunction withthe attached drawings. In this description, like numbers refer tosimilar elements within various embodiments of the present invention.

While the content and nature of MMPs is the key to their widespreadsuccess, it is important to understand the technological underpinningsof a typical MMP. Although it is possible to host and play a computergame, and even an MMP, on a single computer, it is not preferred forMMPs. Accordingly, the following description of an exemplary systemarchitecture is provided.

FIG. 1 illustrates a distributed computer system 100 in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

The system 100 includes a server platform 102 and a client or playerplatform 103. The server platform 102 can include a plurality ofindividual servers 104, 106, 108. The client platform 103 can include aplurality of individual clients 112, 114, 116, 118. The number ofclients is virtually limitless, constrained only by the physicalcharacteristics of the server platform 102, client platform 103 and acommunications network 110 connecting the two. As will be appreciated,the system 100 is a distributed virtual environment tailored tofacilitate MMPs.

Each of the clients 112, 114, 116, 118 comprises a personal computerrunning client software which facilitates a player's operation of andinteraction with the game. However, in other embodiments the clients112, 114, 116, 118 may also comprise other devices, including but notlimited to, cellular telephones (such as the Motorola Inc. A388c),wireless or palmtop computers (such as the Series 7 by Psion PLC),portable digital assistants (such as the Tungsten C by Palm Inc.),handheld game systems (such as the Gameboy Advance by Nintendo ofAmerica Inc.), game consoles (such as the Play Station 2 by SonyCorporation of America), etc.

Each client 112, 114, 116, 118 is generally responsible for displayinginteracting objects (other players, terrain, non-player characters,etc.), displaying the game's interface, processing a player's inputs,playing music and sound and performing other CPU or bandwidth intensiveoperations.

Each of the servers 104, 106, 108 generally includes a computer systemhaving a server platform portion of the game for communication, databasestorage, coordination, and overall control and administration of thegame. The servers 104, 106, 108 generally maintain state information andcoordinate client interaction with various objects in a virtualenvironment, including but not limited to other clients, vehicles,artificial intelligence, terrain, music and sound. Each server 104, 106,108 provides additional functions, such as security, recording gamegoals and scoring and tracking each player's advancement towards thosegoals.

The clients 112, 114, 116, 118 communicate with the server platform 102via the communication network 110. In the preferred embodiment, thecommunication network 110 depicted comprises the internet, but in otherembodiments the communication network 110 could be an intranet, WAN orLAN, or any other type of network utilized for communicating between theserver platform 102 and the client platform 103. For example, thecommunications network 110 could include, without limitation, a wirelessnetwork, a cellular network or any other system which facilitates thetransmission of data. Each client 112, 114, 116, 118 has an associatedcommunications link (or session) with one or more of the servers 104,106, 108. As shown in FIG. 1, client 1 112 could communicate with serverA 104 via a communications link 122. Similarly, client 2 114 couldcommunicate with server B 106 via communications link 124. The servers104, 106, 108 are interconnected via a communications network 110. Inthe embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the communications network 110 isdepicted as a dedicated network, but could also be a shared network suchas the Internet.

During operation of the system 100, a particular client, for exampleclient 1 112, which desires to enter the game communicates through acommunications link 122 with an allocated server A 104. Thedetermination of which specific server 104, 106, 108 a particular clientis linked with will depend on a number of parameters, such as serverload, number of clients, location of clients, status of client (e.g.,position) within the game itself, and other parameters as are known tothose skilled in the art. In the particular embodiment shown in FIG. 1,the number of servers 104, 106, 108 needed for allocation depends uponthe number of clients. FIG. 1 illustrates operation of the system 100when a large number of clients 112, 114, 116, 118 are logged onto aplurality of servers 104, 106, 108.

When there are relatively few clients 103 participating in the game,only one server is typically needed to serve the clients 103. Duringgame operation, there is often no need for direct communication betweenclients. The server platform 102 communicates with each client itspositional, status and event data (referred to as client or player data,or as a player's attributes) for every other player and object theclient can see or interact with inside the virtual environment of thegame. Such player data includes, but is not limited to, avatarattributes, type, physics modeling, scoring, position, orientation,motion vector, animation, background music, player music, inventory,vehicle, call sign, or other client or object attributes necessary forthe particular game. Typically, the server includes a database ofinformation that is maintained and updated as the players interactwithin the game. Through the interaction between the client platform 103and the server platform 102, the game is facilitated.

FIG. 2 depicts typical content that is represented within the virtualenvironment of one embodiment of an MMP. As illustrated in FIG. 2, anumber of objects are present within the scene. In the embodiment shownin FIG. 2, a small rabbit 202 (the “bunny”), a young bird 204 (the“chick”) and a dragon 206 are present. The bunny 202, the chick 204 andthe dragon 206 are located with a mountain range context 208. The clientmust process the content describing the bunny 202, the chick 204, thedragon 206, the mountain range 208, along with information about howthey are to be displayed on the player's screen. The client may alsoneed to display additional content, such as, for example, audio files,graphics files, and multi-media files.

In order to be processed and displayed by the client, content mustsomehow be placed at the client. Some content may be placed at theclient without any server interaction in an off-line process, such aswhen a player loads a game program and associated content onto theclient from a CD-ROM. Other content may be placed at the client in acommunication outside of a program execution, such as when a clientinitializes a connection with a server and the server then transmitscontent. Still other content may be placed at the client via acommunication with a server that takes place during a program execution,such as when the client has already established a connection with aserver and is executing a program that requires additional content to befetched from the server.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, content maybe designated as “high-quality”. High-quality content may comprise, forexample, graphics or audio files which are relatively large. Generally,high-quality content may require more time and bandwidth to transmit,and may require more processing power by the client than content whichis not high-quality. For example, a five megabyte graphics file willrequire more bandwidth and/or time to transmit to a client than a fiftykilobyte file. A five megabyte graphics file may also require superiorgraphics processing hardware in order to display on the player'scomputer in a reasonable manner.

In recognition of the variety of hardware and bandwidth requirementsthat may exists among clients, a preferred embodiment of the inventionmaintains multiple versions for some content. For large graphics files,for example, a high-quality file and a lower quality file may bemaintained. With reference to FIG. 2, the bunny 202 may be representedgraphically in both high-quality and lower quality form. Thehigh-quality version is designated as high-quality content. Thehigh-quality version of the bunny 202 may appear on the player's screenat a higher resolution and in greater detail than the lower qualityversion. For example, finer features of the bunny 202, such as whiskers,may only be visible on the player's screen in the high-quality version.

To facilitate the efficient delivery of content to the client, a contentupdate package is stored on the server, in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the invention. The content update package is a collectionof data files that may be sent to the client to effectuate or enhancegame play. Typically, the content update package comprises the mostrecent versions of the data files, along with metadata about the datafiles, such as version information. The content update package typicallycontains an iteration number. When a game developer modifies a datafile, the modified file is stored in the content update package, whoseiteration number is incremented. A client typically notifies the serverof the iteration number for the content update package it has mostrecently obtained. The server then compares the client's iterationnumber with the iteration number of the current content update package,and transmits to the client any data files added or modified subsequentto the client's current iteration. Alternatively, the client may checkto see if it has the most recent version of a data file, and if it doesnot, it obtains the most recent version of the file from the contentupdate package. Thus, the entire content update package does not need tobe sent to the client; only those files that are necessary to keep theclient up-to-date are sent.

As previously mentioned, a preferred embodiment of the inventionprovides for the separation of high-quality content from the contentupdate package. Separating high-quality content offers advantages toclients, which may now spend less time downloading content from theserver if the client does not require the high-quality data files.Separating high-quality content also offers advantages to servers, whichmay now require less bandwidth to transmit files to their respectiveclients. Separating high-quality content further offers advantages todevelopers, who may manipulate smaller content update packages whendeveloping content that is not high-quality.

An exemplary separation of high-quality content is illustrated in FIG.3. In the example, a content update package 300 comprises six individualdata files 302. The data files are sorted by a quality metric and two ofthe individual data files 304 are identified as high-quality data files.These two high-quality data files 304 are placed in a new high-qualitycontent update package 306. The high-quality data files 304 may or maynot be removed from the content update package 300.

In greater detail, the separation of high-quality content as implementedin a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 4. Datafiles are placed in a content update package on the server in a contentupdate package creation step 402. A quality metric is then applied tothe data files in the content update package in a quality rating step404. The data files with the highest quality ratings are identified ashigh-quality data files in a high-quality identification step 406. Thehigh-quality data files are placed in a high-quality content updatepackage in a high-quality update package creation step 408.

In one embodiment, the quality metric applied in the quality rating step404 is simply the size of the individual files in the content updatepackage. In another embodiment, the quality metric may be subjectivelyapplied by a game developer. In another embodiment, the quality metricmay correspond to the type of the data file. In an alternativeembodiment of the invention, the quality rating step 404 need not beapplied—data files may be arbitrarily designated as high-quality datafiles by a game designer.

The high-quality identification step 406 may be accomplished, forexample, by first sorting the data files by their quality ratings. Inone embodiment, a fixed percentage of the data files (e.g., the top 5percent rated files) are identified as high-quality. In anotherembodiment, any data file whose quality rating is above a threshold(e.g., files larger than one megabyte) may be identified ashigh-quality. In another embodiment, any file of a particular type—suchas, for example, a multi-media file—may be identified as high-quality.Other methods for identifying high-quality data files may be used.

With respect to the high-quality update package creation step 408, inone embodiment, the high-quality files are removed from the contentupdate package and placed in the high-quality content update package. Inanother embodiment, the high-quality data files are copied from thecontent update package to the high-quality content update package, sothat copies of the high-quality data files remain in the originalcontent update package

FIG. 5 illustrates a process by which data files in a high-qualitycontent update package may be transmitted to a client, in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the invention. Upon initialization of aprogram execution at the client, the client requests a networkconnection to the server in a connection request step 502. A networkingprotocol, such as TCP/IP, may be used to communicate between client andserver. The server receives this request in a request reception step 504and authenticates the client. The client then transmits to the server ahistory profile in a profile transmission step 506. Once the serverreceives the history profile, it determines if high-quality data filesare to be sent to the client in a determination step 508. Ifhigh-quality data files are to be transmitted to the client, the servertransmits the appropriate high-quality data files from the high-qualitycontent update package in a high-quality transmission step 510. Otherappropriate data files (i.e., not high-quality) are transmitted to theclient in a transmission step 512. If high-quality data files are not tobe transmitted to the client, then transmission step 512 takes placewithout the high-quality transmission step 510. After receiving thetransmitted files from the content update package and/or high-qualitycontent update package, the client updates its locally stored files inan updating step 514.

With respect to the profile transmission step 506, in one embodiment thehistory profile is a file stored on the client, comprising an iterationnumber representing the content update package most recently obtained bythe client. In another embodiment, the history profile comprises a listof data files presently stored at the client along with versioninformation for those data files. In another embodiment, the historyprofile is stored in a portable memory device, such as a “pen” drivethat connects to a computer via a universal serial bus. In a preferredembodiment, the history profile further comprises an indicator ofwhether the client is to receive high-quality data files. Typically,this indicator may be a bit-value where, for example, high-quality datafiles are to be sent if the bit value is 1, and high-quality data filesare not to be sent if the bit value is 0.

In a preferred embodiment, the determination step 508 is accomplished byreading a bit value from the received history profile, as describedabove. By comparing the client's history profile to the versioninformation associated with the content update package, the server candetermine appropriate files to be transmitted to the client. Forexample, appropriate files to transmit may include the most recentversions of those files for which the client is not up-to-date.Alternatively, or in addition, appropriate files to transmit may includenew files for which no version is stored on the client. Thisdetermination of appropriate data files may take place for both thecontent update package and the high-quality content update package.

The updating step 514 may be performed by replacing older versions withthe new versions transmitted by the server. Alternatively, the clientmay maintain older versions of the files in storage while indicatingthat the new versions transmitted by the server are to be used. Theclient also may update its history profile to reflect that it nowlocally stores the newer versions of the files.

The present invention can be provided as one or more computer-readableprograms embodied on or in one or more articles of manufacture. Thearticle of manufacture can be a floppy disk, a hard disk, a CD ROM, aflash memory card, a PROM, a RAM, a ROM, or a magnetic tape. In general,the computer-readable programs can be implemented in any programminglanguage. Some examples of languages that can be used include C, C++, orJAVA. The software programs can be stored on or in one or more articlesof manufacture as object code.

In this fashion, embodiments of the present invention separatehigh-quality content within a massively multiplayer game. It will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that various omissions,additions and modifications can be made to the methods and systemsdescribed above without departing from the scope of the invention, andall such modifications and changes are intended to fall within the scopeof the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

1. A method for efficiently transmitting to a client a content update,the method comprising the steps of: a) hosting for transmission acontent update comprising a plurality of data files; b) identifying asubset of the plurality of data files comprising the content update ashigh-quality data files; c) creating a high-quality content updatecomprising the identified high-quality data files; d) receiving a clientconnection request; e) determining that high-quality data files are tobe transmitted to the client; f) transmitting data files from thehigh-quality content update; and g) transmitting the remaining datafiles comprised in the content update.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereinstep a) comprises storing on a network storage device a content updatecomprising a plurality of data files.
 3. The method of claim 1 whereinstep b) comprises identifying a subset of the plurality of data filescomprising the content update as high-quality data files using a dataquality function.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the plurality of datafiles contained in the content update are sorted by data quality and acertain fixed percentage of the highest quality data components areseparated as high-quality data files.
 5. The method of claim 3 whereinthe data quality function is based on the sizes of the plurality of datafiles.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of removingthe high-quality data files from the content update.
 7. The method ofclaim 1 wherein step e) comprises determining that the received requestincludes a bit value indicating high-quality files should betransferred.
 8. A method for efficiently transmitting a content updatefrom a server to a client, the method comprising: a) the server hostinga content update comprising a plurality of data files; b) identifying asubset of the plurality of data files comprising the content update ashigh-quality data files; c) creating, by the server, a high-qualitycontent update comprising the identified high-quality data files; d) theclient requesting a connection with the server; e) determining, by theserver, that high-quality data files should be transmitted to theclient; f) the client receiving data files from the high-quality contentupdate to the client; and g) the client receiving the remaining datafiles comprised in the content update to the client.
 9. The method ofclaim 8 wherein step a) comprises storing on a network storage device acontent update comprising a plurality of data files.
 10. The method ofclaim 8 wherein step b) comprises identifying a subset of the pluralityof data files as high-quality data files using a data quality function.11. The method of claim 9 wherein the plurality of data files containedin the content update are sorted by data quality and a certain fixedpercentage of the highest quality data components are separated ashigh-quality data files.
 12. The method of claim 9 wherein the dataquality function is based on the sizes of the plurality of data files.13. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of removing thehigh-quality data files from the content update.
 14. The method of claim8 wherein step e) comprises determining that the received requestincludes a bit value indicating high-quality files should betransferred.
 15. A computer based content updating apparatus comprising:a non-volatile memory element storing a content update comprising aplurality of data files; a processor in electrical communication withthe non-volatile memory element identifying a subset of the data filesin the content update as high-quality data files, separating thehigh-quality data files from the content update, and storing in thenon-volatile memory element a high-quality content update comprising theseparated high-quality data files; and a transceiver in electricalcommunication with the non-volatile memory element and the processor,the transceiver receiving a connection request from a remote client on anetwork; wherein the processor determines that high-quality data filesare to be transmitted to the client and the transceiver transmits datafiles from the high-quality content update and the remaining data filescomprising the content update.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein theprocessor identifies a subset of the plurality of data files ashigh-quality data files using a data quality function.
 17. The apparatusof claim 15 wherein the processor removes the high-quality data filesfrom the content update.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein theconnection request from a remote client received by the transceiverincludes a bit value indicating high-quality files should betransferred.
 19. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the non-volatilememory element comprises a network storage device.
 20. The apparatus ofclaim 15 wherein the non-volatile memory element is associated with afirst computer, the processor is associated with a second computer, thetransceiver is associated with a third computer, and the first computer,second computer, and third computer are in electrical connection witheach other over a network.